Jasper Johns American artist, sculptor and printmaker Date of Birth: 15.05.1930 Country: USA

Biography of Jasper Johns

Jasper Johns, an American artist, sculptor, and engraver, is a prominent figure in the pop art movement. He was born on May 15, 1930, in Allendale, South Carolina.

After studying painting at the University of South Carolina for a period of time, Johns settled in New York City following two years of military service. It was in New York that he met artist Robert Rauschenberg, from whom he adopted progressive ideas in contemporary art. Johns also absorbed many concepts from Marcel Duchamp; Duchamp's Bicycle Wheel and other readymades served as inspiration for a series of bronze cast objects that Johns created in the late 1950s to early 1960s.

Perhaps the most significant works of Jasper Johns can be attributed to a series of his early paintings produced in the second half of the 1950s. The American flag is depicted not proudly waving in the wind, but rather stretched on a plane, neutralizing the patriotic meaning of the painting and transforming the flag into an emblem, akin to a book reproduction. The subject, such as the Target painting, is identical to the plane of the canvas. These works exist as independent and self-sufficient objects.

The interpretation of the painting as an object naturally led the artist to juxtapose real objects with those depicted on the canvas, and subsequently led to the creation of sculpture. Jasper Johns' sculptures are cast in bronze and represent ordinary objects, such as an electric flashlight, light bulb, or toothbrush. One of his most famous works is the sculpture of two bronze Beer Cans.